The present invention relates to a harness assembling structure on a vehicle floor and, more particularly, relates to a structure for assembling the harness with the end portion of a carpet at the side sill portion of the vehicle.
As shown in FIG. 5, a side sill 1 is provided at the side portion of the vehicle floor. On the upper surface of the side sill 1, a harness (not shown) is assembled together with the end portion of a carpet 3 laid on a floor body and a protector member (hereinafter called as a scuff plate) 5 covering the upper surface of the side sill along the longitudinal direction thereof.
FIG. 6 is an exploded sectional view showing the conventional harness assembling structure on a vehicle floor, and FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the assembling state of the structure of FIG. 6. The side sill 1 is formed by an inner side sill 9 extending to a floor panel 7 and an outer side sill 11 provided on the out-of-room side. Vertically extending projection pieces (flange portions) 9a, 11a are formed at the end portions of the inner side sill 9 and the outer side sill 11. The inner side sill and the outer side sill of the side sill 1 are combined at the upper walls thereof by welding the flange portions 9a, 11a.
The scuff plate 5 is arranged to have a configuration covering the upper surface of the side sill 1. The scuff plate has an upper wall piece 13 forming an opening portion in which the flange portions 9a, 11a are inserted, side wall pieces 15 extending downward from the opposite ends of the upper wall piece, a lower wall piece 19 provided at the lower end of the room-side side wall piece 15 through a hinge portion 17 so as to be rotatable around the hinge portion, and a hung-down piece 21 extending downward from the upper wall piece so as to be adjacent to the flange portion 9a. The upper wall piece 13, side wall piece 15 and hung-down piece 21 form a U-shaped harness insertion portion 23.
The scuff plate 5 is assembled in a manner that the end portion 3a of the carpet 3 is fixed to the lower wall piece 19 through a tacker 25, then the tower wall piece 19 is engaged within the engagement hole of the hung-down piece 21 after inserting the harness 27 within the harness insertion portion 23, and the scuff plate is fixed to the outer side sill 11 through screws (not shown). Thus, the scuff plate is assembled in a manner that the end portion 3a of the carpet 3 is drawn under the lower wall of the scuff plate and the harness 27 is concealed by the upper wall of the side sill 1.
The aforesaid conventional harness assembling structure on a vehicle floor is configured in a manner that the end portion 3a of the carpet 3 is fixed to the lower wall piece 19 of the scuff plate 5 and the end portion 3a of the carpet 3 is fixed by using the scuff plate 5, and hence there arises the following problems. That is, if the size of the carpet 3 becomes shorter than a desired length due to the error of laying accuracy of the carpet 3, the lower wall piece 19 can not be closed, so that it becomes impossible to fix the scuff plate 5. In contrast, if the size of the carpet 3 becomes longer than the desired length due to the error of the laying accuracy of the carpet, the carpet 3 sags and so the scuff plate 5 rises, whereby it also becomes impossible to fix the scuff plate 5.
Further, since the end portion 3a of the carpet 3 is fixed to the lower wall piece 19 of the scuff plate 5 in a manner that the end portion 3a is fixed to the outer side sill 11 through the scuff plate 5 which is fixed to the outer side sill, the fixing strength applied to the terminal end is not sufficient. Thus, if the drawing force toward the room side is applied to the carpet 3, the scuff plate 5 may be deformed and hence the end portion 3a may be unfixed.